Enigma (20 page)

As the first song ended, the crowd cheered, and Seb smiled shyly before singing another one of my father’s favorites,
Pretty Woman
. As he sung, he looked in my direction. I tried to avoid eye contact with him, but he was undeniably charming.

“Hey, Kate. Look at that guy singing. He’s looking right at you. He looks like your type too.” Brett raised his eyebrows at me and I felt embarrassed.

“Brett, don’t be stupid,” I said dismissively. “I don’t have a type.”

“Of course you do: tall, dark hair, rough around the edges, but silky smooth. Oh, and a biker too; can’t forget the bike.”

Brett spun me around. He’d detailed my ideal guy to a tee, and I couldn’t believe that he had paid so much attention to me.

“Well, I guess my type has changed.”

“Well you’re obviously his type.” Brett pointed at Seb. “He’s looking right at you. I think he thinks you’re a pretty woman.”

I felt my cheeks burn. I didn’t want Brett to meet Jack or Seb. He may have been a recovering alcoholic, but he was intelligent and very perceptive. I didn’t want him to start asking awkward questions because I didn’t want to have to lie to him. He didn’t even know I had a boyfriend. When it came to Brett, I had to protect him.

Everyone began exchanging partners during the dance, and Brett threw me into Jonathan’s arms. He seemed reluctant to dance, probably because he had two left feet and knew it. Then I danced with Uncle Richard, who was drunk, and whose smoky breath made me gag. Next, I had to endure Perry, my dad’s colleague, and then, to my relief, Perry thrust me into Jack’s arms. I was relieved to see him, but felt under pressure to avoid making eye contact with Seb as Jack spun me around. I also had to avoid bumping into Brett too, while trying my best to remain relaxed.

“Who was that guy you were dancing with?”

“That was my brother, Brett. He’s been allowed to come to the party for a couple of hours.” I frowned at Jack, feeling like I shouldn’t have had to explain myself to him. But he seemed a little embarrassed and didn’t question me any further.

Seb sang the last song, Tony Bennett’s
The Way You Look Tonight,
which was one of my favorites and had also played at my parents’ wedding. As Seb sang, I watched him over Jack’s shoulder, and he looked at me and smiled. When he finished the song, everyone applauded.

Clapping, I walked onstage and took the microphone from Seb. After I thanked him, I asked everyone to take their places on the patio since the belly dancers were about to perform. Although I felt like the host of the party, my part was done and I walked off the stage, rushing past Seb. Jack took my hand and we left the gazebo to spend a few minutes alone.

As we walked through the garden, we heard a surge of laughter. Curious, we headed over to the patio and shuffled our way to the front of the crowd to see what the commotion was about. My father, Perry, and Sebastian were trying to belly dance. Everyone was having fun until the belly dancers began to unbutton the men’s shirts. Perry was in his element and proceeded to rip off his shirt. One of his buttons flew off and landed in Aunt Lynn’s wine glass, and she walked off looking disgusted.

My mother laughed and Heather was trying not to look at my father exposing his not-so-toned chest. But Seb seemed to make up for the other two in the toned physique department, and the ladies were going wild for him. One belly dancer seductively undid all of Seb’s buttons and let his shirt drop to the ground. She then picked up the shirt and threw it into the crowd. Seb laughed but seemed a little embarrassed. To Heather’s horror, Savannah caught Seb’s shirt and he smiled at her. Savannah smiled back, but Heather looked jealous, which made me laugh.

“Let’s leave, Kate,” Jack said abruptly, and pulled me away from the scene. “I’ve had enough of Seb’s show for one night.”

I thought Jack was giving his brother a break tonight. I shook his arm off of mine.

“Come on, Jack! He’s only having a little fun. Look, my father’s up there with him,” I said.

“Okay, stay, and I’ll go.” Jack turned around and stormed off through the crowd. Reluctantly, I followed him. Everyone was having fun, and I thought that Jack had been okay with Seb singing and saving the day, but I was wrong. When I caught up with Jack, we sat on a bench by the pond watching the fire-eater from a distance. My mother had outdone herself with this year’s entertainment.

“Why are you behaving like a spoiled child?” I asked.

“What do you mean?” Jack stood up and looked down at me. “Don’t speak to me like that.”

“Maybe you should go home,” I suggested.

Jack placed his hand on my arm. “Kate, I’m sorry. You’re right; my behavior is inexcusable. Please forgive me.”

Jack pulled me toward him and leaned in for a kiss, confident that he’d been forgiven. Surrounded by the fairy lights, I allowed him to kiss me and then sat on his lap, stretching my legs out along the bench.

After a while, I led Jack to the pool house at the back of the garden. I retrieved the key that was underneath the ugly door ornament, unlocked the door, and ushered Jack inside. After closing and locking the door, I closed the curtains.

With butterflies in my stomach, I released the catch on my dress and watched Jack walk over to the day bed. He spun around quicker than I’d seen him do before and stared open-mouthed at my body. I let my hair down and walked over to him, wearing my kitten heels and black lace thong. Jack was so transfixed on me that he didn’t move an inch. I began to unbutton his shirt and then threw it on the floor. He leaned out to touch me, and then he grabbed his chest and fell to the floor in agony, just like before.

I slipped into my dress and leaned down beside him, but he pushed me away. He was breathing deeply through the pain, not wanting to yell out and bring attention to us. All I could do was stand back and wait for the pain to stop.

“Jack, I’m so sorry.”

“Don’t worry; it’s not your fault. Seb will be here in a minute.”

“What?”

“We have this twin sixth sense thing. It’s really weird. If we need each other we just kind of tune into it. He’s here, open the door for him.”

I unlocked the door and opened it. Seb was waiting outside—shirtless. I had no idea how he knew where we were.

He rushed to Jack’s side and held his hand over his mouth to prevent him from yelling. It was horrible and I felt helpless. This was the second time that Jack and I had attempted to be intimate, and each time, the curse wouldn’t allow us to be that close.

I heard a noise and tiptoed to the window. I peeked out from behind the curtain and saw Savannah holding Seb’s shirt. She had followed him and was knocking on the door. I looked over at Jack who was now unconscious.

Seb told me to stand to one side so that I wouldn’t be seen, and casually opened the door for Savannah. I peeked out the window. Savannah stood in front of Seb, observing his body and smiling like a cat who had gotten the cream. I wanted her to leave and had no idea how Seb was going to get rid of her.

“I saw you wandering up here and thought I would bring your shirt to you. Can I join you?” She walked nearer to the door.

“Thanks for bringing the shirt, but I’m kind of busy.” Seb took the shirt from her and attempted to shut the door, but Savannah placed her foot in the way.

“Are you sure you’re too busy to invite me in?” She began to unzip her dress at the side and I saw that Seb was lost for words.

I ruffled my hair and released the catch on my dress, but held on to it before it fell to the floor. I walked over to Seb and placed my free hand around his waist, and I smiled when he put his hand on my hip.

“Sorry, Savannah. He’s too busy.”

Her face was priceless and she removed her foot from blocking the door.

“Katherine Harris! Well, it looks like you’ve been taking tips from your sister. Wait until your mother finds out what you’ve been up to in her pool house!”

Savannah was raging with jealousy and I knew she’d be spiteful enough to tell my mother, but I had that covered.

“Savannah, if you breathe a word of this to anyone I’ll tell your mother that you lost your virginity to your cousin.”

Seb tried not to laugh. He held onto me tighter than necessary and was rubbing his thumb up and down my side.

“Kate, you wouldn’t dare!”

“I will! I promise you I will.”

She stormed off and Seb closed the door. I had almost forgotten that Jack was unconscious and felt terrible for laughing with Seb. He took the liberty of helping me dress and then he put on his shirt.

Seb sighed. “Thanks. I wasn’t sure how to get rid of her. She’s persistent. What are you going to do if she tells someone about us? If Jack finds out about this, he’ll go crazy.”

“She won’t tell anyone. Trust me. I have so much dirt on that girl and this is the only thing she has on me.” I walked over to Jack.

“So you’re a good girl, are you?” Seb asked, following me over to Jack.

“Yes; at least I think I still am.”

I touched Jack’s chest. He was breathing, but was still unconscious.

“Seb, what are we going to do? Your parents are going to suspect something if we don’t go back to the party.”

“I’m going to take Jack home. I’ll be able to carry him over the fence. Tell my parents to excuse themselves and when they get home I’ll explain what happened.”

“Okay, but you have to know that this is the second time this has happened. I mean every time we—”

“Okay, I get the picture. Spare me the details.”

I felt embarrassed, but continued. “Well, this happens before anything else has the chance to happen.”

Seb looked at me. “It’s the curse. Don’t you see, Kate? You’re not meant to be together. If the most natural thing in the world isn’t possible for both of you, then how can your relationship be real?”

I walked out of the pool house with a deep, dreadful feeling inside of me. Fireworks ascended into the air and as I looked up at them, I felt like I was going to explode.

As the party ended, I rushed to my bedroom ready to change and leave to check on Jack. I closed the door behind me and as I turned around, Sebastian was sitting on my bed. He stood up and our eyes met.

“Kate, I came to let you know that Jack is weak and will need to sleep for the rest of the weekend, but he’ll be okay.”

I sighed with relief and sat next to him. “He’s okay for now then,” I said, looking down at my fumbling fingers. Seb walked toward my balcony. “Wait, I want to thank you, you know, for singing. You were amazing. Thanks for getting Jack home too, and for letting me know he’s okay.”

Seb smiled. “You don’t have to thank me. But I think it would be wise for you to let Jack sleep tomorrow.”

I nodded and watched as he leapt off my balcony. He was out of sight, but not out of mind.

CHAPTER 20

S
itting at my dresser, I combed my hair, preparing for my Monday classes, and thinking about how Seb’s sultry voice had saved my father’s party. He had mingled with my parents’ unpredictable friends and enjoyed some innocent fun with the belly dancers. My mother said that several of the guests at the party had commented on what a lovely guy Seb was.

As I opened the front door, Jack was waiting by my car. Seb rode past us on a black and red Suzuki Hayabusa, the hottest motorcycle on the planet. I tried my best not to stare.

Jack and I arrived at school and made our way to our lockers. I opened my locker and a piece of paper flew out. When I bent down and picked it up, I saw that it was a charcoal sketch of me.
The most beautiful girl in the world
was written underneath it
.

Jack snatched the sketch out of my hands. A purple tinge appeared around his eyes and he quickly put on his sunglasses. He ripped the sketch and I watched in shock as the tiny pieces of paper flew to the floor. He slammed his locker shut and grabbed my wrist, pulling me through the halls.

“Jack, what’s wrong? Where are we going?”

“We’re going back to my house. There’s something I need to show you. If you don’t see it for yourself, you won’t believe me.”

W
hen we arrived at his house, Jack opened the door and threw down his bag, which slid halfway across the hallway, and the buckle on the front of the bag scratched a long line into the solid oak floor. I placed my bag down by the door and caught up with Jack, who raced upstairs.

He kicked down the door at the end of the hall; the door flew off its hinges so fast that the floorboards shook in a flurry of ripples. I held onto Jack to keep from falling and soon realized that we were in Seb’s bedroom. Jack was tearing through drawers, throwing his brother’s belongings around the room in a rage. I began to pick everything up off the floor, placing Seb’s things back where they belonged. Jack’s anger was taking over his senses.

“Jack! Stop! You’ve gone crazy! What are you looking for?”

He continued to riffle through Seb’s drawers, making me feel uncomfortable.